Keep motors running when idle

[spiderpig]

So I recently got the FPV drone flying bug thanks to a friend who I fly DJI drones with. I've flown his racing drones and got decent at it. Also own Liftoff and DRL Simulators and have been practicing. I recently ordered my first drone, an Arris X-250B (Free shipping!ARRIS X-Speed 250B RTF w/Flysky Radio w/EV800 Goggle (US Warehouse)). It comes with a FlySky FS-i6-M2 transmitter and I'm slowly getting used to it. While watching lots of videos on freestyle flying, a lot of people mention its better to have the motors idle when the throttle is at full low instead of shutting it off. They mentioned its a transmitter setting, but I'm not sure where to look for that since I just got it.

Is it correct that its a transmitter setting, or is it something that has to be flashed to the FC?

 

[TraumaChaser]

It's not a tx function you do it in software.

 

[Jtrjr]

Spider,

It's a setting on the configuration tab in Cleanflight or Betaflight. I love my 250B, there are a few mods that I've done that have helped with a few things. Get rid of the flimsy GoPro mount. It really doesn't work effectively. I just put some standoffs where the rubber isolator were and screwd the plate on to the standoffs. The little ball type isolators order the Flight controller are too spongy, get a few more like the ones that were for the GoPro mount and replace the spongy ones with those. I've had mine apart quite a few times and fly it often if you have any questions.

Jerry

 

[spiderpig]

Thanks Jerry,

Currently I added a GoPro using the gopro mounts I had laying around. Here's a picture:
View media item 9
I did a quick indoor flight test to make sure it worked ok with it being on and it seemed fine:

Although I'm a little worried about how high the GoPro is compared to other ways I've seen it mounted, but haven't done a full flight yet to tell. Any recommendations would be great. I would ideally like to use my GoPro 3 to record footage of the flight to eventually post on my youtube channel.

 

[Jtrjr]

Spider,

I don't think that's going to work. Where are you putting your battery? I would think you want a 2200mah, that won't fit up top with the GoPro mounted there. My 250B is balanced pretty **** good and flies great. Take a look at these pics.

Jerry

 

[spiderpig]

The battery actually fit pretty well behind it with the 1500mah battery it came with, I have two more coming so I haven't really used any other bigger batteries. I did the quick flight test with it on to make sure it could balance itself in self level mode and it did fine. My goggles should arrive by Friday so I'll be able to test it better. Figured I'd start slow and work my way up to the flips and rolls.

Although I do like your GoPro mount, where did you get it?

UDPATE: Ok looking at the pictures I just realized something, is the shelve above the camera suppose to be a GoPro mount? I thought it was there to stabilize the FPV camera, but seeing how you removed it makes me think you can mount the GoPro there. Would make it easier. I tend to overthink things being an engineer.

 

[Jtrjr]

Spider,

Yes, I removed the stock mount and just put some long extensions between the top plate of the frame and the stock camera plate (homemade). Also, get rid of the stock antenna, you won't get any distance with it at all. I ran my antenna higher so I wouldn't get interference from the GoPro when the bird is facing towards me. Do the mod to the plate inside the bird that holds the flight controller. The way it is stock let's the FC move around too much causing a mushy response to RC inputs.

Jerry

 

[spiderpig]

Yeah the stock antenna looks a little loose. Will have to work on replacing it eventually and make it a bit more solid.

So is the default GoPro holder not good? seems like it would be better to use then what I did to start with. Only issue would be that I would like to angle it a bit to match the FPV camera angle.

 

[Jtrjr]

Spider,

Sorry to say but the GoPro mount won't work. I would bet it'll get banged up on just a hard landing. The case is going to add quite a bit of weight as well. The angle has been an issue for me too. There aren't any good solutions available for this frame. I'm going to make a wedge for mine to mount to the camera base plate.

If you look closely at pic 1 that I sent. The frame should have two little clips and a small rubber grommet that holds the antenna to the frame. Another reason I have the antenna extension anfpd the longer antenna. If I do crash, it just bends over instead of breaking the connector on the VTX.

Jerry

 

[spiderpig]

Thanks Jerry,

I'll dismantle my GoPro mount tonight and take the GoPro out of the case. I'll try mounting it to the front right now and see how it does. Hoping to actually be able to fly it outdoor this weekend, but will be able to do hover tests indoor in the basement. Not too much room in my house to fly.

Will look at hunkering down the antenna and FC a bit better as well. I like the gold elbow connection you on yours, will have to replace mine eventually and will start looking for parts. Do you get your parts from Amazon or from a Chinese source?

 

[Jtrjr]

Spider,

Put a pice of 3M reclose strips under the camera to keep it from moving around. I also use this stuff under my FC and Reciever. Works much better than Velcro. I use Amazon Prime whenever possible. Usually more expensive but I get stuff in 2 days instead of a month. Some stuff you have to buy from China. Good luck!

Jerry

3M Company #RF9731 2PR 1x3 Re-Close Strip - Craft Interlocking Tape - Amazon.com

 

[spiderpig]

Thanks. I'll have to pick some of those up. Will make modifications this week and will update pictures.

So on the original question, in the software (SP FC v3), what option would I look for to keep the motors spinning at idle? I will try to connect my machine to the drone this week some time and look at the settings.

 

[theGreenOrange]

Thanks. I'll have to pick some of those up. Will make modifications this week and will update pictures.

So on the original question, in the software (SP FC v3), what option would I look for to keep the motors spinning at idle? I will try to connect my machine to the drone this week some time and look at the settings.

Be sure "motor stop" is set to OFF. This will cause the props to spin slowly while armed.

 

[spiderpig]

Be sure "motor stop" is set to OFF. This will cause the props to spin slowly while armed.

Thanks. Will check it tonight.

 

[Jtrjr]

Spider,

Here's a video of my Betaflight setup for my 250B. These settings should get you going really good for a starting point (I'm using these now). Should save you the headaches of screwing around with different settings to get going. You'll see the Motor Stop setting on the configuration page. You wont show the Mag or the Baro, I replaced my FC with the Deluxe version, yours probably has the Acro version. Because of this my flight modes will be different from yours. You should set up "ARM", "ANGLE" and "HORIZON" for sure, the rest are up to you. You can just pause the video to study the settings for any given page.

Jerry

 

[spiderpig]

Spider,

Here's a video of my Betaflight setup for my 250B. These settings should get you going really good for a starting point (I'm using these now). Should save you the headaches of screwing around with different settings to get going. You'll see the Motor Stop setting on the configuration page. You wont show the Mag or the Baro, I replaced my FC with the Deluxe version, yours probably has the Acro version. Because of this my flight modes will be different from yours. You should set up "ARM", "ANGLE" and "HORIZON" for sure, the rest are up to you. You can just pause the video to study the settings for any given page.

Jerry

Excellent! Will check it out tonight. From my testing and the reconfigurations, my drone has a self level mode and acro mode currently. I like the self level mode because I can test hover in my house to make sure the balance is all ok, plus it'll be good for takeoffs and landings.

 

[Jtrjr]

Spider,

There are 2 self leveling modes, Angle and Horizon. Horizon will allow flips and rolls, Angle will not.

Jerry

 

[spiderpig]

Yeah just found that info on the clear flight manual:
Mode details

Angle

In this auto-leveled mode the roll and pitch channels control the angle between the relevant axis and the vertical, achieving leveled flight just by leaving the sticks centered.

Horizon

This hybrid mode works exactly like the previous ANGLE mode with centered roll and pitch sticks (thus enabling auto-leveled flight), then gradually behaves more and more like the default RATE mode as the sticks are moved away from the center position.


So whats the different between beta flight and clear flight...are they just different ways of getting to the data or are they FC specific?

 

[Jtrjr]

Spider,

It's "CleanFlight" and "BetaFlight". The story is a long one, you can read about it on GitHub or Wiki if you really want to know. Long story short, they were both created by the same guy (Boris). CleanFlight was the end-user version and BetaFlight was the testing (Beta) version for the more advanced guys. They seem to have gone the same direction lately with BetaFight being more advanced. Most people will flash BetaFlight and use it unless for some reason it doesn't work properly with their particular gear.

Jerry

 

[spiderpig]

So got home, undid my old mount method and put the GoPro on the actual mount and tried two different methods:

Here's what it looked like at the end...I like it fine, but just need to figure out how to angle it to match FPV camera and how to have the strap not show up on the video.

IMG_0862.jpg

• HighTechPauper
• Sep 2, 2019

IMG_0861.jpg

• HighTechPauper
• Sep 2, 2019

I did notice a couple other things. My frame doesn't have that holder for the antenna on the back. Because of this the antenna is kind of loose and during flight would just end up facing downwards instead of vertical. I also found the video transmitter board was kinda of loose after the first landing, so I used zip tie to hold it down better. I think I'm going to look into getting a 90 degree elbow and a better antenna...any help/suggestion in this department would be great. Since I won't have my goggles until Friday, I wasn't really able to test the actual video feed anyways, but I do plan on using it all the time in the future.

Also for the FC and receiver, I did notice it was sitting on top of a plate that had the same balls things for the gopro mount. So it was self absorbed. It seemed pretty well in place, but would you recommend I zip tie it as well? I got plenty of zip ties.

Weather is looking good for this weekend, even though my plans are a bit busy, I'm hoping to meet up with some friends and do a flight. Can't wait to get this thing in acro mode in a nice open field.